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Chano Pozo Born: 1915, Havana, Cuba Died: 1948
Chano Pozo, a Cuban percussionist born in Havana, popularized the conga drum in the United States. He played Abakuà-themed music (derived from Abakuà, the Afro-Cuban all-male secret society). Pozo was a major player in the Latin Jazz scene during its inception, highly regarded as a fantastic session musician.
In the 1930s and 40s, Pozo developed his musical status and reputation playing around Havana, choreographing dance revues at hotels and writing prize-winning carnival songs with his brother Miguel.
Relocating to New York City in 1946, he collaborated with Dizzy Gillespie in a big band setting, recording hits like "Cubana Be," "Cubana Bop," and "Manteca." Dizzy spoke of Chano lovingly, saying, "When Chano joined my band, that is when the Latin innovation in jazz began," and "Pozo could play in one rhythm, sing in another, dance in a third: I never knew how he could do that." After spending his formative years in reform school, Pozo developed a reputation for being a tough-guy. He drank heavily, fought often, yet spent his days and nights drumming, chanting, and composing. Pozo was shot twice in the stomach, though not lethally, in 1943 in a fight with a publisher's bodyguard over the non-payment of royalties. He was later killed in a fight in Harlem, New York, in 1948. Story has it he was murdered during an argument over the quality of a bag of marijuana he had just purchased from a decorated World War II veteran.
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